On my way to my parent’s house today I saw the new <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://www.06vauxhall.co.uk/new-cars/view/36/New-Astra”> Vauxhall Astra in Ormskirk</a>; my first impressions were “I prefer the old one”. I’m always sceptical about new models especially if I like the previous model, I had the same feeling towards the new Focus but that has slowly grown on me.

I really like the mark 5 Astra in the SRI trim, the 1.7 CDTi SRI is my perfect car, in black of course. I love the 17inch alloys that come with it as standard, the 3 door version looks really sporty, the fact that it’s a diesel is the icing on the cake.

The new Astra looks too rounded off to me, almost like a semi circle and too similar to the new Corsa. I liked the angular lines of the mark 5 and the poise of it. No doubt in time the new Astra will grow on me especially after I’ve taken it for a proper spin.

The design of the new Astra has been heavily influenced by the Vauxhall Insignia which won many awards on its release. As well as having a more luxurious design the new Astra benefits from some innovative storage solutions such as;

•‘Flexfloor’ – the adjustable boot space system
•‘Flexfix’ – the attractive bicycle carrier

The designers of the Astra took the 20 most carried items in a car and designed a storage solution for each of them, which means the Astra is very practical and flexible.

The top of the range petrol version looks very nippy on paper too, it is a 1.6 litre turbo that produces 178bhp, the 1.7 diesel engine is available with either 108bhp or 123bhp both should have a lot of torque and low end grunt.